‘Just tell me about the prophecy!’ I said, withholding the piece of cake. ‘After that, you can both have cake.’

‘Crawk. Cake,’ said Hugin.

Munin pecked him on the wing. For a moment both birds fought, flapping their ragged feathers and crawking furiously. Then the smaller bird broke away and came to perch on my shoulder.

‘That’s better,’ I said. ‘Now tell me what you know.’

Munin crawked a couple of times. I could tell it was trying to speak, but the proximity of cake, and the beady eyes of its unruly sibling, seemed to make concentration difficult.

‘I know. A mighty Ash,’ it said. ‘Its name is Ygg – Ygg –Ygg –’

‘Crawk,’ said Hugin, alighting on my other shoulder.

‘Yes, I know its name, thanks,’ I said. ‘So? What about it?’

Hugin pecked at the cake in my hand. I dropped it onto the parapet. Both birds descended upon it, flapping and bickering noisily.

‘The prophecy, please,’ I said sharply.

‘Cake! Stand!’ said Hugin, between beakfuls.

‘What? Cake-stand? What does that mean?’

‘The Aff, Yggdraffil, cakeff where it fftandff,’ corrected Munin, its beak full of fruit cake.

‘Yggdrasil? It quakes where it stands? Why?’

‘Cake.’

‘Oh, for gods’ sakes!’

But I had run out of cake by then, and the birds were losing interest. They pecked up the last scattered raisins and flew off, still squabbling, towards Odin’s hall.

Still, they had given me food for thought. A tremor in the World Ash was a tremor throughout the Worlds. And even if it wasn’t a tree, the news that it was under threat didn’t sound good to Yours Truly. Was this what Mimir’s Head had foretold? The Ash, Yggdrasil, quakes where it stands. Was this why Allfather was so jumpy?

Well, I thought, I’m about to find out. Heimdall had certainly spotted me feeding birds on the Rainbow Bridge, and knowing his enthusiasm for spying on me and telling tales, I knew I could rely on him to take the story to a higher authority. Odin in one of his rages might give away more information than he intended. All I had to do till then was play innocent and wait for the storm to break.

Well, I was right about one thing, at least. Allfather was jumpy. As soon as he heard what I had done, he hauled me up in front of him and gave me the works – the Furious One in full Aspect; lightning, spear, flashing eye, the lot.

‘Spying on me, were you?’ he said. ‘Trying to get inside my mind? Try that again and, brother or not, I’ll thrash the sunshine out of you. I won’t ask Thor or Heimdall. I’ll do it myself. And I’ll make it count. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Clear as Mimir’s well,’ I said. This was no time for a smart response.